My brother-in-law passed away in an accident. Out of pity for his widow, my husband decided to be the breadwinner for both families.

After that, my husband and son both gave all their love to my widowed sister-in-law.

On her birthday, my husband and son reserved a restaurant in town for her party.

I was plucking corn in the field when I started bleeding, a sign that I was miscarrying. I called my husband, begging him to come home and take me to the hospital.

However, he scolded me angrily, calling me a liar. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t touched you in months! How could you be pregnant?”

My son grabbed the phone impatiently as well. “Mom, the teacher said lying is wrong! Aunt Laura’s blowing out the candles now, bye!”

We had been married for seven years, yet they had completely forgotten that today was my birthday too.

Despairing, I dialed another number. “Mother, I changed my mind. I’m going back to inherit the clinic.”

It was the harvest season. When I was busy in the fields, I accidentally slipped on a cob of corn and fell. As I got up, I felt a twisting pain in my lower abdomen.

I limped home and called my husband on the landline, begging him to take me to the hospital.

However, Seamus Chandler assumed I was lying to get out of my chores, so he berated me. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t touched you in months! How could you be pregnant?”

Even my son did not believe me. “Come on, Mom, you’re just making excuses to laze off. My teacher said it’s not good to lie, so stop pretending! Oops, Aunt Laura’s coming. We’re going to blow the candles now, bye!”

He hung up before I could even say another word.

A month ago, Seamus had gotten dead drunk at a wedding in the village. He had pinned me down as soon as he returned to our room.

I had been happy at first. I thought the wedding reminded him of our happier times together, so he was finally about to return to me.

In the height of his passion, however, he called his sister-in-law’s name instead.

No wonder he assumed I was lying when I told him I was pregnant.

Today was my birthday, yet my husband and son were out celebrating an outsider’s birthday. I held my lower abdomen and put down the receiver, my blood running cold.

The pain was intensifying. I knew that I had lost this baby for sure.

Lying on the bed, I gripped the covers tightly. It felt like there was something clawing at me from the inside, dragging my organs out. I moaned in agony as my blood soaked the sheets.

After four hours of blood-curdling pain, I finally came to a realization. It was time to leave.

It was evening by the time I managed to pull myself out of bed. After making myself a bowl of soup to restore my energy, I dialed a name I had memorized by heart.

“Mother? Can I still inherit the clinic?”

I was born to a family of doctors. Eight years ago, I met Seamus, who had been painting by the riverside.

Back then, he was handsome, gentlemanly, and caring. I had decided to marry him from the first time we met.

My parents had opposed the marriage, so I eloped with him behind my family’s backs and despite their protests. After that, my relationship with them was never the same.

Five years into our marriage, Seamus’ brother was driving their mother to the hospital in the city when his motorcycle suddenly lost control and veered off a cliff. Both of them died on the spot.

My father-in-law had a heart attack when he heard the news and died on the way to the hospital.

Everyone felt bad for my widowed sister-in-law. As a result, my husband decided to take her in under his wing as well.

I wept in protest, but Seamus persuaded me with his silver tongue. “Trust me, Autumn, you’re the only one I love. Back then, my brother had quit school so that my family would have enough money to fund my studies. Now that his wife is a widow, I can’t just leave her to die!”

I thought he was good for his word. I thought he would only watch over her daily needs.

However, everything changed once she moved into our house.

Before long, I heard laughter from the courtyard. I got up slowly, holding the table for support. The moment I turned my head, I met Seamus’ eyes as he was coming in.

“What’s with the basin outside the door? Where did all the blood come from?”

Seamus looked at me, confused. “Autumn, why do you look so pale?”

My sister-in-law Laura was coming into the house when she stopped at the smell. She pointed at the water in the basin, pinched her nose, and declared, “Geez, Autumn, you should've prepared beforehand if you knew you were going to get your period! Look, you stained all the sheets.”

Seamus frowned in disgust. “Clean it up, Autumn. What if someone else sees this? It's embarrassing!”

I dragged my heavy feet over slowly and poured the water into the wastewater bucket.

Laura sniggered, then turned to Seamus with concern in her voice. “Seamus, since Autumn's bed has been sullied, why don't you spend the night in my room? You should get a good night's sleep so you can go to work on time tomorrow. What do you say?”

Seamus’ ears quickly turned red, and he cleared his throat. “Sure. That's a good idea.”

Before this, they would at least keep their flirting behind my back. Now, however, they were flaunting it right before my eyes.

Just then, my son Thomas came out of his room with his backpack in hand. “Mom, my bag strap broke, and all my classmates made fun of me. Hurry up and fix it for me!”

However, Laura reached out her fair hands to take the bag. “Tommy, your mom must be exhausted after spending a whole day in the fields. I can sew up your bag for you.”

Watching her little act, I said calmly, “Can you even sew, Laura? If you try, Tommy's classmates will probably make fun of him even more.”

Laura frowned, but Thomas yelled at me first. “No, Aunt Laura shouldn't have to do such petty chores! Mom, you've been resting at home all day, haven't you? Can't you fix my bag for me at least?!”

I looked at him in shock and endless disappointment. This was my own son, my flesh and blood, yet he was berating me for an outsider.

Clang! I smashed the basin to the ground.

“Then get your dear Aunt Laura to fix it for you!”

With that, I stormed back into my room, leaving both my son and husband frozen in shock.

In my more than seven years of marriage so far, everyone had praised me for being gentle and kind. I had never raised my voice at anyone before.

Seamus quickly recovered and came after me, saying softly, “What are you doing, Autumn? There's no need to yell at the kid. Don't be mad, okay? I won't go anywhere, and I’ll stay with you tonight. How about that?”

I ignored him, tidying up the bed all by myself.

Just as I turned off the lights that night, however, there was a woman's cry from the room next door.

Moments later, Laura knocked on our door, saying timidly, “Seamus, I think there's a mouse in my room. Can you help me? I'm scared…”

No matter what Seamus had said earlier in the day, he got out of bed as soon as he heard Laura calling his name at night.

“I'll go take a look, Autumn. I'll be back as soon as I catch that mouse. Go ahead and sleep without me.”

However, he did not come back that night. After a while, I heard soft moans coming from the room next door.

My heart twisted in my chest. I gripped the sheets tightly, tears staining my pillow.

The next morning, Laura sauntered out of her room. She had purposely worn a shirt with a loose color, revealing the bruises on her neck.

Exasperated, I tried to return to my room with my washbasin, but she called out to me.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest with a nasty smirk. “Autumn, don't you know some medicine? Why don't you go to town and buy Seamus some supplements? Let's just say… he could use some extra nutrients after working so hard last night.”

Seamus walked out of his room, putting on his clothes. He paused when he heard Laura's words and tried to explain. “Uh, the mouse was too big, so…”

I gripped the edges of the basin and scoffed. “No amount of supplements will help that body of his.”

Seamus' face darkened with rage.

Meanwhile, Laura seemed to remember something and brought a box out of her room. “By the way, Autumn, you still don't have a mobile phone, do you? Seamus bought me a new one for my birthday yesterday, so you can have my old one. I'm not using it anymore, anyway.”

My hands clenched into fists.

I had been in so much pain yesterday that I could barely stand, yet I had to drag myself home under the scorching sun to call my husband on the landline. At the very same moment, he was giving her the latest mobile phone model as a birthday present.

I shoved her hand aside and headed back into my room. However, she cried out and fell to the floor.

Laura wailed, holding her stomach. “If you didn't want it, Autumn, you could've just told me! Why did you shove me like that? What should I do, Seamus? My stomach hurts so bad…”

“What did you do, Autumn?!” Seamus glared at me and carried Laura into her room.

He quickly called the village doctor, Dr. Jensen, who checked Laura's condition before solemnly announcing, “Mr. Chandler, your sister-in-law… is pregnant.”

The room instantly became pindrop silent.

Looking at Seamus’ expression of suppressed joy, I could not help but think of the child I had just lost.

I wandered out to the jetty, looking dazedly in the direction of the boat that was supposed to come tomorrow.

After a while, Laura's smug voice sounded behind me. “You're still so fond of looking out into the sea, Autumn.”

She held her stomach, gloating as she came toward me. “This baby came right on time, don't you think? I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but I'm sure Seamus will be ecstatic either way. You saw how happy he was when he found out. He almost tripped over the doorway, haha!”

I smirked. “I know, right? But I wonder if he'll still be so happy if the news gets to his workplace.”

Laura's grin stiffened.

She was still his brother’s widow, after all. If his office found out that he had knocked up his sister-in-law, he would probably lose his job in an instant.

Laura seemed to remember something, looking at me sideways in contempt. “That's easy. He just has to divorce you and marry me! He'd long gotten sick of your ugly face, anyway!

“Did you know? He keeps telling me you're like a dead fish in bed, it's such a turnoff! He even said he feels like puking whenever he sees you in bed!”

My hands shook uncontrollably. “Shut up!”

Laura's smirk widened when she saw my rage. She walked up to me slowly and whispered in my ear, “Autumn Snowe, did you miscarry a few days ago?”

I looked at her in shock, my mouth gaping wordlessly.

“Ha, you haven't used any sanitary napkins over a month. Of course I knew you were pregnant! But don't be too sad, it's a good thing you miscarried. Seamus hates you now, so there's no way he'd love your baby. Besides, any kid with a mother as stupid as you would probably be born a retard, hahaha!”

I grabbed her shoulder, furious. “You evil woman, I won't let you say that about my baby!”

Laura did not put up a fight. Instead, she glanced behind me and then fell right into the ocean.

“Laura!”

At some point, Seamus and Thomas had run up to the seaside. Seamus leaped into the sea, panicking. He was a good swimmer, so it was not long before he pulled Laura out of the water.

“Aunt Laura, are you alright?”

Laura leaned in Seamus’ embrace weakly, tears in her eyes as she immediately accused me with a pack of lies. “Seamus, Autumn pushed me into the ocean! She said I was a shameless woman for seducing you, and she wanted to kill both me and my baby! Seamus, you have to help me…”